New discovery: Chimpanzees put insects in their wounds

On 19 occasions, a research team has observed the unique behavior of a group of chimpanzees in Loango National Park in Gabon, Central Africa.  

- They catch insects from the air or from the underside of a leaf which they first put between their lips and then in the wound.

Sometimes they use their fingers to move the insect around in the wound and sometimes they also move the insect between the mouth and the wound a couple of times, says Simone Pika who is one of the researchers leading the research project. 

May be analgesic

The insect species used by chimpanzees has not yet been identified, but Simone Pika and the other authors of the article published in Current Biology believe it may have medicinal effects. 

- It may be that a chimpanzee once tried to chase away an insect, accidentally crushed it and discovered that it relieves pain.

It may also cause the wound to heal faster.

The next step in the research is to try to identify the insect species, says Simone Pika. 

Cultural behavior

Chimpanzees often learn techniques and abilities from each other, so-called cultural behaviors.

These behaviors often have some benefit for the chimpanzees, but not always.  

- It is possible that this behavior has no medical function and that you pick up the behavior simply because you see someone else do it, that this is how you do in this group, says Tomas Persson, cognitive researcher at Lund University who studies the behaviors of apes.

Shows his wounds

It is common for chimpanzees to have wounds and other injuries as a result of conflicts with other chimpanzees. 

Chimpanzees are very interested in wounds, both their own and others'.

They are very careful to clean wounds and to pick at them.

They often show their wounds to each other, and seem to want to be cleaned in the wounds, says Tomas Persson.

Eat turtles

Different groups of chimpanzees often have different unique cultural behaviors.

Another behavior that has only been observed in the chimpanzee group in Loango National Park is that they crush turtle shells against tree trunks to access the meat. 

- I think we are only at the beginning of understanding chimpanzees' complex and varied behavior.

That is why it is important that we protect them and their valuable habitat, says Simone Pika.

See three of the chimpanzee group's special behaviors in the video above.